School Hockey: Modern High School high on Amritsar

S.S.S.S. Modern High School, Amritsar is the off shoot of f Sant Singh Sukha Singh Khalsa Senior Secondary School, The Mall, Amritsar, a known cradle of hockey in the past. The parent School was founded by S. Sant Singh Rais on 13th May, 1893 in Dharamsala Building in bazaar Mai Sewan in the memory of his son, S. Sukha Singh, who had died in 1877. By 1897 it became a Middle School and in 1938 was shifted to Rose Villa on the Mall. The school was raised to the Matriculation level in 1945; to the Higher Secondary level in 1958; and to the Senior Secondary level in 1986.

An English Medium S.S.S.S. Nursery School was added in 1974 by the untiring efforts of Principal Jagdish Singh under the inspiration of Late S.Sant Singh & Late S. Kartar Singh Hony.Secretary. The foundation stone of the Nursery School building was, however, laid on 11th Oct, 1975 by S. Sukhbir Singh bedi, I.A.S., Deputy Commissioner, Amritsar. In due course of time the Nursery kids grew up in age and appeared in the Middle Standard Examination and their performance in Public Examinations was excellent. They topped in the state achieving high merit positions. Hundreds of them became doctors and engineers and joined other coveted professional courses.

Because of the paucity of space on The Mall, it was decided to erect a new building in a plot of about 15 acres at Dhab Kaulan; off The Mall in 1986. Gen. BKN Chibber laid the foundation stone in 1988. The low-lying marshy land came up as a beautiful campus with facilities for play grounds, laboratories and lush green lawns. A new graceful set ‘Buds Charm’ for Nursery and K.G with specialized facilities for new entrants was added in 1992.

S.S.S.S. Nursery School was rechristened ‘Modern High School’ and shifted to the new campus at Mata Kaulan Marg, The Mall, Amritsar.

Modern High School is a record holding school of P.S.E.B. Our school made Amritsar proud by breaking 53 years old record in Matriculation Examination 2004. First, Second positions were won by Harneet Kaur and Anupreet Kaur respectively. Out of first 12 positions, 8 positions were bagged by our students. 27 open merits out of the total 270 were won by our students out of about 7 lakh candidates.

Enter the main gate of S.S.S.S. Modern High School, you will be surprised to see the spacious playgrounds well-built hockey grounds, surrounded by lush green Woodstock. This is an open invitation for anyone to play hockey.

Sports and Games are the integral part of our life. As regards hockey, the case assumes added significance as it is our national game. The game needs to be encouraged. Keeping this in view Principal Mrs. Narinderjit Kaur Marwah decided to take few steps for promoting our National Game Hockey. So she invited Prof. Paramjit Singh Randhawa to motivate young generation. He visited the school premises on 3rd December on the eve of death anniversary of Major Dhyan Chand, the hockey wizard. He addressed the students in the Morning Assembly after taking the blessing of God. The orator of the day started his lecture saying “Dhyan Chand Amar Rahe” “uski hockey zinda rahe”. Prof. Randhawa emphasized that our National Sport Hockey should be promoted and national hockey hero Dhyan Chand should be respected and remembered at any cost. Mr.Randhawa gave many examples from great Dhyan Chand’s life but he felt sorry that such a great sports personality is being ignored. He mentioned how today’s news paper carrried out the news of the auction of the cap of Don Bradman, an Australian cricketer but no news on Dhyan Chand’s death anniversary.

Randhawa said that students should realize what Indian government and media is doing towards a great hockey personality. In this poor condition for hockey and hockey stars, he wanted the children to be enthused with the spirit of ‘Chak De India hockey’. He also said,”Who knows amongst these children will emerge Dhyan Chand, Dhanraj Pillay, Gagan Ajit Singh and Jugraj, Rajbir Kaur, Surinder Kaur.Students should make them their role model.

Prof.Randhawa, a staunch hockey promoter said we should not forget that Ex DGP of Punjab Mr. Ashwani Kumar who lately became the President of Indian hockey federation named his daughter “ Hockey.”so that she becomes ambassador of the national game, and also showed his passion for hockey.

We should revive that love of Hockey again. Hockey is not a game only it is our culture. The speaker of the day further said we will have to produce another Dhyan Chand, lest the coming generation will not belive that such a legend was in India!!

After the assembly, a floral tribute was paid and candles were lighted in the memory of Dhyan chand. At this occasion Director Sir, Principal Madam, School Hockey Teams and 2000 Students were present.

S.S.S.S. Khalsa Senior Secondary School (Parent Body of Modern High School) has a long association with Hockey. Being 115 years old institution it has produced Hockey players of national and international repute. Following the legacy of parent school Modern High School has Hockey teams of boys and girls both for seniors and juniors. Many of our players have been selected in the state team. This year, our junior and senior team of girls was placed in first and second position respectively in the District. The names of the girls students selected for the state camp. and played in the state team are:-

Hockey Girls (Under – 17)

1. Gurleen Kaur
2. Ravneet Kaur
3. Baljeet Kaur
4. Ritika
5. Prabhdeep Kaur
6. Shubam
7. Bhupinder Kaur

( Under – 14 )

Arashdeep Kaur
Malkeet Kaur
Manpreet Kaur
Monika
Prabhdeep Kaur
Navjot Kaur

Our Director S. Jagdish Singh has taken up steps to promote Hockey. He has started Inter-district Hockey Tournaments for schools. He wants players to be disciplined. Players should be good in studies also. It is his opinion that the role of media in the promotion of any game cannot be undermined. Hockey is a game of intelligent people. Indians prefer cricket that is by chance is not India’s national game. Cricket has destroyed our sports culture also. He recalled his own period and added further that there is an urgent need to respect this game. Incentives, Prizes and support should be made so that people carve to become hockey players rather than joining the mad rush of becoming cricket players.

Keeping in view, Principal Mrs. Narinderjit Kaur Marwah has decided to take important steps for our National game that has lost its magnificence. She always inspires the students to participate in our national game. She feels that we should not forget hockey. It is the game, world learnt from us but now we are distancing ourselves from the game. She says that main culprit in destroying of Indian Hockey is regionalism. Keeping this in mind the Principal gave permission for holding Hockey tournaments on our grounds since last two years. The District Hockey camps have been organized in our school campus.

The school has three sports teachers – Mrs. Harshinder Kaur (Basket Ball Player), Mr.Gurbax Singh (Hockey Coach) and Mrs. Rajpreet kaur (National Hockey Player). She also played in all India Inter University and Federation Cup. Under the dynamic guidance of the our Director S. Jagdish Singh, Modern High School has been progressing day by day.

In the end hockey buff Randhawa addressed the school team of boys and girls. He gave some tips for the game. He advised them always make a aim to be a best goal keeper, best full back, best half back and best forwards. He further suggested them to read hockey literature and visit hockey web sites like www.stick2hockey.com of and on. He spent a one hour to motivate students for the game.